REAL ESTATE

This past week, New York University began the long approval process for its plan to add four new buildings to two superblocks just south of Washington Square Park in Greenwich Village.

PETA, the animal rights group, is seeking to obtain O.J. Simpson's Florida home from JPMorgan Chase for a Meat is Murder museum.

Former football star and actor O.J. Simpson is facing foreclosure.

O. J. Simpson, the former football star who gained notoriety during a 1995 murder trial, is facing foreclosure on his Florida home.

Robert Duffy of SOM is leading the design of Cornell's new campus at Roosevelt Island, which aims to be one of the most sustainable in the country.

Eighteen coastal states have varying degrees of protection against hurricanes, according to the Insurance Institute for Business & Home Safety.

The very idea that a 30-story building could be built in 15 days -- or 360 hours -- is mind-boggling. But that's what happened in China, as a 30-story hotel went up in just 15 days.

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo's new plan to sell the Jacob Javits Center and build the largest convention center in the country at the Aqueduct Racetrack in Queens is an urban upheaval on a scale that evokes the legacy of Robert Moses, the parks commissioner who shaped the city in wide swaths in the middle of the last century.

15 Central Park West's Unit #28D has sold for $21 million, according to city records, representing the very top of the Manhattan real estate market.

The HGTV Dream Home 2012 contest is finally underway. One lucky winner will get the prize of a lifetime - a modern, western ranch in Park City, Utah.

The United States will remain the top choice of most global commercial real estate investors in 2012, but the country has lost ground to Brazil which ranked No. 2 this year, according to a survey released Sunday.

French architect Christian de Portzamparc's One57 is set to become the tallest residential building in New York -- and the United States.

Sometimes, New York feels like its own country. Even as the rest of the U.S. struggles in the face of a down housing market, the New York of 2011 saw skyscrapers charge ever upwards, with pricing inevitably following. It is truly the global city, with developers, buyers and architects from around the world gathering to shape the future. Here are five of the biggest developments of 2011.

U.S. average 30-year fixed-rate mortgages hit another record low of 3.91 percent in the week ending Dec. 22, according to Freddie Mac.

The Los Angeles mansion that is featured on FX's hit series will likely go up for sale in 2012 for $17 million.

U.S. sales of existing homes were up 4 percent in November to an annual rate of 4.42 million units, according to the National Association of Realtors (NAR), suggesting that a housing recovery is beginning.

Ekaterina Rybolovleva is a mere 22-years-old but she just dropped $88 million on a 6,744-square foot apartment at 15 Central Park West. The apartment boasts 10 rooms, including four bedrooms, a wrap-around terrace and two wood-burning fireplaces.

Ex-Citigroup chairman Sanford Weill has sold his penthouse at 15 Central Park West in Manhattan for $88 million, a new record for a single residential sale in the city.

MVRDV's The Cloud has attracted criticism, but the risk taken is essential for design to move forward.

Hugh Hefner's old Chicago Playboy condo is up for sale for a whopping $5.8 million, down from $6.7 million when it first went on the market in July, according to reports.

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on Friday sued six former executives of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac with securities fraud, alleging that they knew and approved of misleading statements related to the companies' holdings of subprime loans.

Overall U.S. foreclosure activity fell in November compared to the previous month, but auctions hit a nine-month high, according to RealtyTrac.

U.S. 30-year fixed-rate mortgage rates fell in the week ending Dec. 15 to 3.94 percent, matching an all-time historic low, according to Freddie Mac.

Bankrupt American Airlines' $30 million London townhouse was apparently overlooked in cost-cutting efforts.

U.S. mortgage applications increased 4.1 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis in the week ending Dec. 9, led by an increase in refinances, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association.

The city of Chicago said on Tuesday that it would vigorously defend a lawsuit filed by the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA), which challenges an ordinance regulating the maintenance of vacant properties.

Republicans raised concerns on Tuesday over the Obama administration's nominee to head the Federal Housing Administration (FHA), as a possible bailout for the agency looms.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA), regulator of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, on Monday sued the city of Chicago over its new vacant buildings ordinance.

Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney called on fellow candidate Newt Gingrich on Monday to return $1.6 million in fees from consulting work for Freddie Mac.